As soon as non-smokers discovered public health provided a veneer of justification for imposing their preferences onto everyone else, the endless march of smoking bans became inevitable. But in Champaign, IL, the unthinkable has happened: after just three months in effect, the local ban has been repealed by the city council.
Not that it really matters. A statewide ban in Illinois is expected to take effect in January. Still, I’ll take my good news wherever I can get it.
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, bartender, cocktail consultant, and magician in Portland, Oregon. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in the print or online editions of The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, The Oregonian, and other publications.
You should be pleased! The state-wide ban will put all the businesses in the city on the same level, so that bar owner doesn’t have to worry about smokers going to bars outside the municipality.
Yeah! And smokers will have to drive one state over instead of a mere one town over! It’s awesome!
Of course, it’s disgraceful. Most ordinary people know it is, but they want somehow to make peace with the legislation by convincing themselves that it’s a good thing. After all, even if people’s rights are being trampled into the dirt, how can it be moral for one to disagree with people being made healthier?
I always comfort myself with the facts that alcohol prohibition was repealed by its unenforceability and Hitler’s anti-smoking campaign was ended by the collapse of his regime. No prohibition of any substance ever lasts forever; whether due to public resistance or regime change, it will always end. Tobacco will always exist, and as long as it does, people will always find ways to enjoy it.